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Sunday, June 3, 2012

A-DOOR-able

I know what you'll be doing next weekend. . .hitting up all those neighborhood garage sales looking for the golden (wooden) ticket.

About 2 years ago Andy and I were taking a walk in my Old Colorado City neighborhood and happened upon a miniature yard sale. The mom, with her wispy red hair coming loose from her bobby pins, darted around her display of coats and furniture pieces. She was selling things from her home to gather enough gas money to send her son off to college.

There, propped in the center of the lawn, perched against a table, was an old door, weathered with peeling steely hospital green paint. I was in love. "How much for the door?"

"Oh, I don't know, 5 bucks?"

"You sure?" (I mean, when you see a prize, you're willing to pay.)

"Yeah, sure; do you want this typewriter too?"

"Hmm, I'll take the door."

"Well, I throw in the typewriter too."

She must have had some ill relationship with this 1950's looking typewriter. Perhaps she wrote a love letter to a man who never wrote back. Maybe she painstakingly typed page after page of her mystery novel only to be rejected by several publishers. Or maybe it was junk she couldn't get the trashman to take, so I was the lucky recipient. Anyway, this is about the door, not an old sad typewriter.

While I continued to fall in love, Andy ran back to get my car to stuff the new door inside.

And inside it remained. Well, outside too, for the past two years. My prize ignored until one day Andy looked out on our modest apartment porch and said, "How 'bout we paint that door?" Adventure on.

We darted to Home Depot and scanned paint swatches. We landed on a fresh and steely purple, with a hue of gray. (I was never a purple girl-always pink, and then I ordered purple flowers for my wedding-sold.) We also picked up some sanding sponges and paint brushes (the economy kind-maybe not the best choice for more than one project.)

Andy and I had multiple visions of purpose for this door, but one thing we knew, it was going up on the wall. Maybe put fun coat hooks on it or picture frames?

Step One

Have your husband prop up the door so you can take a "before picture"

Step 2

Sand down all the chipping pieces.

Step 3

Gather the shavings and wipe down with a rage to get the historical dirt off.

Step 4

Time to paint! Another point for arid Colorado-the paint drys so fast! We just bought a $4 paint sample and it covered the entire front of the door.

Step 5

Hardware time. Andy put three hooks on the back to hang on the wall.

And Viola!

You too can create this for about ten bucks. . .

that is, if you can find a lady trying to earn some gas money for a college road trip. Fingers crossed.

Next I painted some old frames I got at good will-the original project was to hang them from the stage at our wedding reception-obviously I have a great track record of buying things and not executing projects.

But the frames still aren't up. Too much follow through right now. . .I need to relapse on at least part of this project or I just wouldn't feel like myself!

Best wishes to you on all your future garage sale endeavors. And always carry a five dollar bill around-you never know when you're prize will be sitting on the front lawn of someone's yard.